Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement

The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the companies used hundreds of thousands of their articles to build AI products without permission or compensation. The suit was filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.The newspapers claim the tech companies scraped their websites, including content behind paywalls, to create training datasets for large language models powering ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Bing AI. Their argument boils down to a simple premise: if an AI can spit out a close approximation of an article, why would anyone bother visiting the newspaper's website or paying for a subscription?The plaintiffs aren't just looking for a check. They want monetary damages and the destruction of the infringing datasets and AI models built from their content.The complaint highlights an 88-word excerpt from the Seattle Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Boeing 737 MAX as one example of the alleged infringement. According to the suit, the AI systems were able to reproduce the passage in near-verbatim form.Seattle Times President Alan Fisco acknowledged the decision to sue was difficult but framed it as necessary to protect the financial investments the newspaper makes in original journalism.The New York Times filed its own high-profile suit against OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023. Then in June 2026, a coalition representing roughly 400 local newspapers filed a similar action. The Seattle Times and Newsday filing adds two more prominent names to the plaintiff side.Adding an awkward wrinkle to the whole affair: in 2024, Microsoft and OpenAI funded a $10 million AI fellowship through the Lenfest Institute that included both the Seattle Times and Newsday as participants.OpenAI has maintained its standard position that its AI models are built using publicly available data and that the training process falls within fair use guidelines.Microsoft expressed surprise at being sued by a newspaper headquartered in its own backyard and indicated it remains open to dialogue on the matter.